Best nonprofit email campaigns: Making the world a better place. One email at a time

Nonprofit email marketing is just as much of a science as any other email marketing but with much more psychology intertwined in the process. Email marketers working for nonprofits need to understand the motifs that make their organization’s benefactors donate, find the relevant content with the right emotional charge to trigger the donation and hit the right cord with a sincere “thank you” message every time for higher lifetime value.

The bigger your email database, the more chances people will donate a dollar or two here and there if they see an email and a call to action that resonates. In this article, we share nonprofit email marketing statistics, provide helpful tips for these campaigns, and show you some examples of such emails. 

Nonprofit email marketing statistics and facts

According to the 2023 Nonprofit Tech for Good Report, 68% of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) utilize email marketing. Further insights derived from this report can help understand your nonprofit organization’s email subscribers and popular tactics to grow them better:

• 63% of nonprofits use email personalization features embedded in their email marketing platforms;
• 38% delete unengaged subscribers regularly;
• 28% use email subscribe pop-ups on their website;
• 92% utilize email marketing to send email newsletters;
• 74% send email fundraising appeals in their email campaigns;
• 35% raised the amount of money that they expected from sending email fundraising appeals;
• 34% raised more donations than they estimated during the email campaign planning.

According to the Health of the U.S. Nonprofit Sector report by Independent Sector, U.S. nonprofits contributed $1.5 trillion to the economy in the first quarter of 2023. Here are more facts from this report:

• the number of donors decreased by 10% in 2022;
• donor retention saw a dive of 3.5% year-over-year;
• donations went down by 1.7% in 2022 compared to 2021.

The dollar value drop is significantly smaller than the drop in the number of donors (-1.7% vs. -10%), as the major attrition took place across the smaller-amount beneficiaries: micro donors of under $100 saw the biggest drop of 15%, while $50K+ supersize patrons only lost 2.1%.

(Source: Independent Sector)

7 practical tips on devising compelling nonprofit email campaigns

Now we will share some practical tips to help you bring your nonprofit email campaign to the next level.

1. Use email marketing tools for automated and scalable marketing

Best email marketing tools are universal, but if you want to experiment or try marketing software for nonprofits to choose the one that works for you, it’s great!

You need to be in constant contact with your audience, so find the email marketing tool that works for you and use it. There are lots of options in all price ranges. 

Check out our detailed article with a selection of email marketing tools we like and use. From email design and image editing to video creation and testing, you will find the perfect tools for your campaigns.

2. Personalize nonprofit emails for donor engagement

Email personalization for nonprofit and charitable organizations should be multi-layered. From the simple automated insertion of dynamic content to your micro and mini donors to personal thank you emails from the founder to the supersize benefactors.

Automated personalized fields may include the name of the subscriber, the sum of donations, supported campaigns, local events, and so on. These custom emails help build a long-lasting rapport with your supporters, who feel their contribution is valued and welcome.

Do you want to learn more about email personalization? Read our article to find out how to make your subscribers feel valued and appreciated.

3. Utilize diverse segmentation strategies for targeted nonprofit email campaigns

Personalization activities will often result from a thorough analysis of your newsletter subscriber list or a donor database. The email going out to your volunteers will differ from that going out to your donor. The first-time benefactor and a person with years of history with automated monthly donations should be treated differently.

These target audience segments are often the focus for nonprofit organizations’ email marketers:

• demographics — age, job, gender, location, languages spoken;
• interests and personal preferences — if you have a multi-vector nonprofit, it’s good to know which of the causes is likely to trigger a better response (supporting kids, refugees, animals, education, healthcare, etc.);
• donation history — how much and how often they donate;
• engagement levels — think of the top supporters vs. occasional or situational donors.

These approaches are just some of the possible ways to segment your audience for more targeted emails, higher resonance, and conversion.

4. Gauge the frequency of email campaigns for your nonprofit based on your cause and database

More prominent organizations like Unicef can send daily newsletters to those who opted in, but if you are a local organization, the best way not to end up in spam folders will be to portion your messaging to weekly or even monthly emails.

Past open rates should prompt the logic of how often you send your emails as an NPO. And it’s also critical to make sure your fundraising appeals are carefully measured to a reasonable schedule. According to NP Tech for Good report, 67% of the surveyed respondents will send fundraising appeals quarterly, 19% — monthly, and 7% — twice a month.

5. Build trust and transparency: best practices for nonprofit emails

Trust and transparency are fundamental to the success and growth of any not-for-profit company, so every nonprofit email strategy should reflect that.

The financial reporting should be easily available, distributed via all channels, contain information about your administrative costs and amounts collected for every campaign, and be verifiable via publicly available sources.

Also, make sure to provide a clear privacy policy, the possibility to unsubscribe in every email, and provide contact details in a footer.

6. Be frank and vocal about your challenges, failures, and mistakes

Reputational damage hurts most of the companies that dispose of other people’s money to do good. A business has many ways to recuperate from a PR disaster, but a nonprofitable association doesn’t have that privilege.

If you experience any type of obstacles on your way (be it financial, legal, or otherwise), sharing them with your audience is a good idea. You get a chance to respond to a negative situation, forming desired public opinion preventively. Moreover, this makes you more relatable to your supporters and may even help collect funds to overcome the looming disaster. 

7. Clean your donor database regularly

Many email marketing services will charge per number of emails sent, so keeping your donor database clean is just a good cost-saving technique. But this email marketing best practice has a myriad of other benefits, like higher CTR, reduced spam complaints and bounce rates, higher engagement, GDPR and privacy policy compliance, and an overall better quality email subscriber list.

Read our article to learn more about effective email list cleaning.

7 effective nonprofit email campaign examples that speak to the heart of donors

Now let’s check out some nonprofit email examples that make this world a better place to live in — one email at a time.

1. Unicef — Getting straight to the point

Being brief and precise saves your subscribers’ time and also serves as a token of respect. See how Unicef uses snappy phrases like “Water is opportunity,” “Children First,” and even a brief CTA — “See what happened next” to lead their newsletter subscribers to carefully crafted landing pages.

(Source: Unicef nonprofit email example)

2. Red Cross — Keeping a subject line explicit

Every email marketing service professional knows how critical subject lines are for the overall success of any email marketing campaign. The copywriter needs to find the fine balance — subject lines have to be catchy yet clear and descriptive. For organizations with a more formal tone of voice (that is common in NGOs and charitable associations), it’s important to ensure the subject line is to the point and clarifying.

See how the Canadian Red Cross nails the art of the explicit subject line in this newsletter marking six years of the Syrian refugee crisis.

(Source: Red Cross nonprofit email example)

We also came up with a list of subject lines for nonprofit email campaigns to ignite your inspiration:

• "Join us in making a difference today!"
• "Your generosity can change lives: donate now!"
• "Be a hero: support our cause today!"
• "Together, we can create lasting impact"
• "Empower change: donate to transform lives"
• "Giving back never felt so good — donate today!"
• "Join our mission: help us make a change"
• "Help us reach our goal: every dollar counts"
• "Inspire change: your support makes a difference"
• "Fueling dreams, one donation at a time"
• "Creating opportunities: your donation matters"
• "Uniting for good: be part of something bigger"
• "Changing lives together: your support needed"
• "Transforming communities: donate to drive change"
• "Elevate lives with your generosity — donate now!"
• "Building a brighter future: your donation counts"
• "Lend a hand: support our cause today!"
• "Ignite hope: your donation creates positive change"
• "Be the change you want to see — donate today!"
• "Gift of giving: help us make a difference"

3. Epilepsy Foundation — Keeping a call-to-action button noticeable and easy to find

Unlike for-profit businesses that may practice all sorts of social responsibility to appeal to their benevolent ideal customer profile, NPOs are actually there doing only the socially responsive work with nothing to gain for themselves.

In the email, Epilepsy Foundation uses an unmissable big button under a bright indicator that highlights how much money people should donate to reach the campaign goal — fund innovative research into new epilepsy treatments, therapies, and cures. You can also find one more button in the email header.

(Source: Epilepsy Foundation nonprofit email example)

4. Charity: water — Announcing an event that forges a local community

Parents are always on the hunt for ways to get their kids unglued from their screens, so if your nonprofit community service has some events going on, it’s a must to keep your readers informed about them.

If you have a bigger following on social media, you can shift them to your email database inviting your Facebook followers to join the newsletter to stay up to date with upcoming gatherings. See how Charity: water provides a link to follow for event details in their masterfully written event newsletter.

If you are using some email marketing software, check for event email templates to prepare a professional invitation in no time.

(Source: Charity: water nonprofit email example)

5. Make-A-Wish Foundation & Sugarwish — Collaborate to help and enrich your email list

Make-A-Wish Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps children with critical illnesses by fulfilling their wishes, collaborated on a worthy cause with Sugarwish, a gifting company. This is a great example of a collaboration email of a for-profit business with a non-profit organization, as it’s got all the emotional triggers to be effective. Users see a personal story accompanied by a photo and get to read a message from the CEO.

(Source: Make-A-Wish Foundation & Sugarwish nonprofit email example)

6. Road Scholar — Enumerate ways benefactors help society be a better environment to live in

When planning your email marketing efforts as a not-for-profit organization, a feel-good sentiment is a key driver for every phase of the conversion funnel — from double opt-in to reading newsletters from your supported causes to the first donation.

This is why reinforcing that emotion is worth an entire email. Tell your supporters what you spend their donations on and how their small sacrifice contributes to making humanity better in a big way. 

See how Road Scholar reports on the initiatives taken at the expense of the donors. The organization uses a simple and effective CTA: “Give today” at the beginning and the end of the email. They also mention the word “tax-deductible” in a visually dominant heading so that to advise or remind their followers they don't need to pay tax on these amounts.

(Source: Road Scholar nonprofit email example)

7. CARE Australia — Appreciating and acknowledging donors through emails

Donors are human beings that see injustices in everyday life. When they donate, they are looking for ways to make this planet a better place to live and address those injustices, and they also look for a feel-good moment as a side effect.

Charitable and nonprofit organizations know to thank their supporters often and sincerely. In the nonprofit email example below, CARE Australia combines a thank you email with transparency and accountability messaging.

(Source: CARE Australia nonprofit email example)

Wrapping up

With so many kind hearts out there with a few dollars to share, you need to find the right chords to strike to collect funds that make our world better. 

However, with hundreds of thousands of non-profits out there, the competition is tough, and a lot of science, statistics, analytics, automation, planning, and strategizing goes into a successful email marketing strategy for not-for-profit companies too. 

If you are looking to enhance your deliverability, boost your CTR, or drive your donations, consider checking out our nonprofit email templates with easy drag-and-drop functionality for great results. Let’s make this world a better place together. One email at a time.